Board delays demolition of historic barn
Officials in the Phoenixville Area School District are searching for ways to save a historic barn from facing the wrecking ball.
Two members of the Schuylkill Township Historical Commission stood before the school board Thursday night to lobby for the preservation of the barn, which sits on the site of the former Meadow Brook Golf Club. While the barn itself dates back to the Civil War, it’s part of a larger farmstead built before the Revolutionary War, that they said needs to be protected.
“We of course feel it’s very historically significant formany reasons,” said Diane Cram of the historical commission. “It’s a rich part of our heritage and our township. It is also part of the heritage of our country.”
For now the board has agreed to take on the building’s liability and crews will install an eight foot metal fence around the barn to prevent anyone from going inside.
The district purchased the Meadow Brook property two years ago in order to further its
plans to build the incoming Early Learning Center and Elementary School, currently estimated to cost $71 million. District representatives approached the historical commission at its most recent meeting to ask for a permit to demolish the barn. Despite the fact that the building hasn’t deteriorated in the two years since the property was purchased, the district said the building is structurally unsafe, uninsurable and therefore a liability should anyone get hurt there. Now the historical commission is trying to hold off the demolition in order to find a way re-purpose it.
“We lose so many of these historic structures here across our township, across our state and across our nation,” Cram said. “We’re just hoping we can buy some time for this structure.”
One suggestion would be to renovate the building into a classroom or office space, but the district estimated that to cost over $1 million. Cram suggested at least stabilizing the barn or at least its facade so the barn won’t be lost forever.
By demolishing the barn, the district could receive up to $52,000 by selling off the building’s timber and leaving the stone on site, according to Stan Johnson, executive director of oper-- ations. If the district were to renovate the building, it would also have to remediate the contaminated soil left over from old engine oil. If it demolishes the barn, it would simply have to cover over the soil.
Many members of the board were OK with working with the historical commission to try to save the building but said they didn’t want this process to drag out.
Board President Daniel Cushing said the board either needed to accept the liability risk otherwise it needed to act now on the demolition process.
Board member Ken Butera admitted he was biased in this case, as historic preservation is important to him.
“I don’t understand the rush to tear it down other than the liability issue,” he said. He advocated the board “pump the brakes” and give the historical commission a chance to come up with a plan to save the building.
The district currently has a “PR issue” with regards to the handling of its acquisition of the country club through eminent domain and tearing down the barn would be adding salt on the wound for the community, he said.
In eminent domain, a government agency can obtain a property through the courts for public use while paying a fair market value for it.
“I appreciate the liability concern,” he said, “but let’s just see if we can hold off.”
Board member Lisa Longo said this was an opportunity for the district to take a leadership position. She said there is a lot of educational value to the farmstead and if a fence makes it safe for the time being she was willing to work with the historical commission.
While hewas also willing to negotiate, board member Kevin Pattinson said he didn’t want this process to take several years.
Afterward Cram thanked the board for giving the historical commission some time. She said she didn’t think the building would collapse in the next two months, but it will give her team enough time to come up with a plan to save the structure.
“We don’t want to see the barn collapse,” she said, “but we don’t want to lose it either.”
“We lose somany of these historic structures here across our township, across our state and across our nation. We’re just hoping we can buy some time for this structure.” — Diane Cram, of the Schuylkill Township Historical Commission